Credits: This project thumbnail comes from a YouTube video thumbnail, I love the art and all credits go to the original creator! Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/gmVSPE1T9Mk?si=emOSLAcU6ki9W0ss https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/youtube/gmVSPE1T9Mk?si=emOSLAcU6ki9W0ss/ (TADC Theme Recreated from Memory) (Also, did you see that Zooble has a SpongeBob leg in the drawing? And how Jax (and Ragatha a little bit) look so mischievous and cute? XD props for that. I also love how it almost makes it look like the show is all about Zooble losing their mind from the wacky people around them.) Song is Too Much To Get Over (Piano Cover) by Camelody Piano on YouTube, original song by Calum Bowen. Credits to Pin for the Bible verse image in the project. Note: If you didn’t see my first project detailing my rather complicated feelings about TADC (The Amazing Digital Circus), please go here for my full review: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1385019655 For the sake of this project, I’ll just say that there’s a lot about TADC that I found good, but the direction the overall plot of the show went turned me off to it. So while I still engage with the parts I did like, I doubt I’d ever want to watch the full show again. (The behaviors of the fandom, while separate from the show itself, are also a big turnoff as well. Please, discuss your opinions kindly, even if you disagree!) Still, as for the stuff that TADC did well (in my opinion), they did it REALLY well. It didn’t take long for me to become OBSESSED with the characters of the show due to their personalities and designs. The musical portions (like Daisy Bell and Running the Show) were highlights for me as well, as someone who loves songs and musicals. So I thought, perhaps I should take the parts of TADC that brought me joy (ESPECIALLY the characters) while leaving the upsetting and frustrating stuff alone. This led to a storm (and I mean a full-on STORM) of creative ideas. AU ideas, original projects, you name it. (Full disclosure: This is kind of embarrassing for me to say in our modern internet culture where gritty horror media seems to be what’s “mature” or popular, but it needs to be said: I HATE ultra-scary horror media. I am WAY into fluff/comfort media that fills me up instead of leaving me stressed. I have sensory issues and I have a harder time shaking off big emotions, so I get very overwhelmed by media that is too sad or scary. So a lot of my ideas revolve around putting these characters in FAR more happy and comforting situations than the canon show put them in. If you REALLY don’t like that, you should probably click off this project. Now.) I started to brainstorm ways I could put this delightful cast of goofy goobers into a better plot or setting. Where they weren’t trapped forever, and/or where they could be happy, rest, and find comfort without fear of abstraction or another wacky adventure. And also…. where Jax would not be such a jerk, and perhaps even where Queenie, Kaufmo, and others lived on. The ideas came like a series of bombs: one thought exploded and set off many others along with it. Suddenly, I was feeling more creative than I had for ages. It was amazing, and I need to share that flame. One of my favorite ideas involves the characters as actors. In this Actors AU, Digital Circus is the show they are filming and acting in, nothing more. Abstraction (and the show in general) is nothing more than special effects and the wacky product of Caine’s mind (who, by the way, is a main actor, the director, AND the lead writer). Queenie, Ribbit, Scratch, and Kaufmo are alive. Ribbit and Kaufmo are friends with Jax like the canon show, and Kinger and Queenie even have little chess piece kids (they don’t appear in the canon show, but the cast LOVES to babysit them)! The cast were all friends before the show and got together to create it as an act to show their bond and their creativity. The characters use their real names for the show (so Jax is still Jax outside the show, Caine is still Caine, etc.) and their real appearances are the same as the show. Zooble, for example, (who also designs props, by the way!), is not in a costume—their body is just like that! Pommi loved jesters and jester aesthetics so much that, while the show was in its brainstorming phase, she told Caine she wanted to be a jester in the show, and he loved the idea! She loves her costume so much that she wears it off-set! (Continued in Notes and Credits)
(Continued here) Jax is also not a meanie off set—he still likes to be playful and funny every now and then (such as when he does his favorite set prank: gluing googly eyes all over Caine’s script when he’s not looking), but his playfulness is mixed with a form of love and protectiveness for his friends, especially Gangle (who ADORES him in this AU), Pommi, and Ribbit. Jax sometimes can be found crying in Zooble’s prop room or in a storage room when he has to say really mean lines for the cameras, though he’s a phenomenal actor and he does his job well. Gangle and his friends, however, are always there to remind him that they know the REAL Jax and that his scripted lines can’t affect them. He also enjoys baking and hanging out with his friends when he’s off-set. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the big gist of my Actors AU. The cast enjoys hanging out with each other, having Mario Kart/party game nights at their homes, and comforting each other with the knowledge that they will never lose their bond. I think that’s my favorite of my AU/creative ideas…. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have more. A lot more. Another AU I had in mind crossed over TADC with Wicked. If you’re familiar with both like I am, you may have picked up on the fact that Caine isn’t too dissimilar from the Wizard. They both have this musical, larger than life, “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” energy. So…. What if Caine was not an AI? What if Caine was actually the Wizard of Oz? And what if the other characters were characters from Wicked/Wizard of Oz too? Who would be the poised Glinda or the gravity-defying Elphaba, and how would the story change if this were canon? I also considered putting the characters in a Bible study group, a coffee shop, or even just writing softer days for them that I would enjoy reading about. (Did I mention that I am making 90% pure fluff?) I’m also brainstorming a cozy anthology of short stories about teens who hang out together and do silly, comforting, cozy slice of life stuff. But, each of them is based on someone from TADC! I even designed 2 new OCs for this series: click the green flag to see them and see if you can guess who they are each based on! I also want to make another original universe with characters who are less realistic and more cartoonish. These characters will have unspecified/unspecific ages and will have designs and vibrant personalities more like what you’d find in TADC. However, I haven’t yet worked much on what these characters’ names, designs, and world will be. Alright, I could say much more, but I better quit my rambling before Scratch tells me the description is too long. If my ideas sparked something and you would like to make your own art and ideas based from my concepts, you may do so. However, you must NOT steal them or claim them as your own. Please credit me if you make works closely based off of my creative. concepts —@GrapePickle22
